Gareth Southgate warns players they can no longer hide behind Wayne Rooney after his England retirement

Gareth Southgate has told his young England players that they will have to shoulder responsibility for the first time now that Wayne Rooney has retired from international football.

Southgate even said that Rooney was “easy to hide behind” for his younger team-mates, especially since he replaced the retiring Steven Gerrard as captain after the 2014 World Cup. That three-year stint is now over, and the England squad Southgate unveiled on Thursday, for the World Cup qualifiers against Malta on Friday and Slovakia on Monday, contained no Gerrard, no Rooney, and no members of the ‘Golden Generation’.

That puts fresh pressure on the senior players, such as Joe Hart, Jordan Henderson and Gary Cahill, as well as the next generation of regulars, Dele Alli, Harry Kane, John Stones and Eric Dier, to take leadership responsibility. Southgate is keen that they all do that, rather than all duties being invested in one captain, as he hopes to encourage a new era of collective leadership in his team.

“They have not had to carry the responsibility that Wayne has carried for certainly since Steven retired [in 2014],” Southgate said. “Wayne has probably had to carry that on his own. Prior to that I still think he was carrying a lot of responsibility. He has done that tremendously well, but now others have to grasp that initiative and responsibility.”

Rooney was England’s most high profile player for years, certainly since David Beckham last game for England in 2009. But Southgate suggested that all the public focus on Rooney in the last four disappointing tournaments had let the other players off the hook.

“Wayne has been somebody it may have been easy to hide behind for people,” Southgate said. “Because he is the one who has carried the burden. I think that’s been unfair on him. Now everybody has the chance to take the mantle. It’s not concern, it’s an opportunity.”

With a World Cup less than one year away, Southgate said that for England to be successful that mantle of leadership will have to be shared. “If we are going to be an outstanding team moving forward then you need players who are going to step up in the big moments, and step up in games,” Southgate said. “Every time they play for England they have the chance to be involved in an iconic moment in a historic performance that they have that choice, every time they go on the field now.”

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Southgate knows from his own playing days that leadership responsibility cannot just be invested in one man. “The more important thing is what the culture around the team is of leaders, people prepared to take responsibility, people who are prepared to influence others in a positive way” he said.

“You can't have just one guy leading that. I captained every club I was at and at times that was exhausting because I felt there wasn't enough shared responsibility at times and I was taking all the burden for things, trying to do the community events and manage the dressing room and give the speeches at the right time so you need more than one person that can do that.”

Southgate said that he had taken no pleasure from presiding over the end of Rooney’s international career and that the door would theoretically be open should he want to return. Rooney was going to be called up into these squads by Southgate before he decided to focus on his club career this season instead.

Southgate also confirmed that he would like to see the FA pay some formal tribute to Rooney at a future England game at Wembley. Germany made their friendly against England in March a send-off for Lukas Podolski, and Southgate said that he would like something special done for Rooney.

“I think there should definitely be some kind of recognition,” Southgate said, “whatever that looks like should be up to the FA to decide. A [specific tribute] match has never been done before, and obviously we have had World Cup winners before. Other people have to make the decision, but absolutely we should be recognising his career with England and showing appreciation. I know there is already discussion around that.”